The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia and the Leigh Street Armory

In Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood, the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia tells the history of African Americans in Virginia and their contributions to the nation. Its building has a history of its own: it was put up in the late 1800s as an armory for a Black militia, and over the following decades it served as a school, a wartime center for Black soldiers, and a school again.

The museum

The museum shares, interprets, preserves, exhibits and commemorates African American history and culture in Virginia, aiming to tell a fuller, more inclusive story of America through the lives of Black Virginians. Its permanent galleries cover Emancipation, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, desegregation, Massive Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement, and each gallery has interactive exhibits for children. The museum also brings in national traveling exhibitions, shows work by local artists and community organizations, and runs a range of programs.

A militia's armory

The Leigh Street Armory was built in 1895 for an African American militia, the First Battalion Virginia Volunteers. Volunteer militias like it across the country held social events, performed ceremonial duties, sometimes assisted local law enforcement and served in armed conflicts. The armory's first use did not last: four years after the building went up, the battalion was disbanded.

School, wartime center and school again

• 1899: the armory became the Monroe School, an elementary school for the largely African American neighborhood of Jackson Ward.
• 1940: the school closed, and the building was briefly used as a warehouse.
• World War II: it was turned into a reception and recreation center for African American soldiers passing through Richmond or stationed there on assignment.
• After the war: it served as an annex to a local high school.
• 1952–1954: it housed the Colored Special School.

The building is believed to be the oldest surviving armory in Virginia, the oldest armory of a Black militia company in the United States, and one of only three armories in the country built solely for Black militias.

Part of a national network

The museum joined the African American Civil Rights Network in 2024. Created by the African American Civil Rights Act of 2017 and coordinated by the National Park Service, the network recognizes the civil rights movement and the sacrifices of those who fought discrimination and segregation. It tells the movement's story through public and private properties, facilities and programs.

Sources

• National Park Service, African American Civil Rights Network, "The Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia (Richmond, Virginia)": https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/black-history-museum-and-cultural-center-of-virginia.htm
• The source's first mention of the building spells it "Amory"; this page uses Armory, as the source does elsewhere.